Coffeehouse Theology

The latest book that I received from The Ooze Viral Bloggers to review and blog about is the book "Coffeehouse Theology" by Ed Cyzewski.  It was a helpful read in that it dealt with theology, not as an abstract, propostional, systematic belief system, but as a living, breathing, life giving, 'organism" (if you will).

The author centers his discussion around what he calls A Web of Theology (no doubt in part to the idea of a web of belief idea by W.V.O. Quine in "Two Dogmas of Empiricism"- which he makes reference to.)  According to his web of theology there are 6 parts to theology (which he says are all interconnected)  The 6 sources and contexts of thelogy are mission (which surrounds everything), Tradition, God, The global church, Scripture, and Culture.

Mission is the outside of the web.  The author says that all theology serves the mission of God.  It is teh reason we do theology.

Tradition informs and adds insight into the Central pieces of God and Scripture.

God is at the center of theology as both a revelatory source and our guide to theology.

The global church informs and adds insight into the central pieces of God and Scripture.

Scripture is a the center of theology as a primary source of God's revelation.

Cultural/Context plays a part to.  Within the purpose of Mission, Theology takes place in a cultural context.

To me I think the most helpful piece was the reality that our culture and where we live, etc... plays a huge part in how we understand, read Scripture and practice theology.  The author puts it this way, "Our local settings and cultural values- in other words, our context- influence how we read God's word."

Some other quotes that I resonated with from the book include:

"God is already at work in our world.  We need to decide if we want to join his mission."

"congregations as outposts for God's mission in the world, sending-off points where we regroup and refuel before going out as God's ambassadors."

"Christianity doesn't exist apart from culture."

"Lesslie Newbigin said, 'Jesus ministry entailed the calling of individual men and women to personal and costly discipleship, but at the same time it challenged the principalities and powers, the rulers of this world."

"Postmodernism influences our cultural context, and we need to figure out a way to deal with it.  The postmodern era can be both friend and foe- just like the modern age, which put the Bible into the hands of the average person but also caused Christians to stop relying on God's supernatural intervention in our world."

There are probably alot more I could say about this book.  I would recommend it to anyone who is wrestling with questions of theology, the role of Scripture, and the modern/postmodern shift in our world.

Missional Discipleship

Monday, September 20, 2010 at 03:09PM

The other day I attended a monthly lunch with other leaders who are wrestling with what it means to live missional lives and lead missional communities.  We talked about what a missional disciple is and looks like.  I remembered a paper that I wrote during my Sustaining Pastoral Excellence cohort group experience regarding Discipleship and what it is based off of Micah 6:8.  I sent it to the leader of the group and he encouraged me to post it here.  So that is what I am doing.

For this discussion I will use one Scripture as a starting point.  That Scripture is found in the Old Testament book of Micah.  Micah 6:8 says this, “He has showed you, O man, what is good.  And what does the LORD require of you?  To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

There are three parts to this Scripture.  Three parts to what is good and what God requires out of his followers.  Those three parts of a disciples life are to act justly, to love mercy, and to walking humbly with God.  Let’s take a look at these three parts separately.

1.                  To Act Justly:  According to the Webster’s dictionary justly means to act or be in conformity with what is morally upright or good.  So to act justly is about using our lives for good in our world.  All too often I believe we limit discipleship to inward things (spiritual disciplines like prayer and bible reading) while in fact discipleship is an inward and an outward journey.  To be a follower of Christ means that we will work for justice in our world.  Scripture bears this out.  God has a heart for the poor, the needy, and the oppressed.  There are over 2,000 verses of Scripture that deal with poverty, the poor, the needy, and the afflicted.  Some of these verses include: Matthew 25:31-46, Amos 5:24, and Luke 16:19-31.  A disciple of Jesus will show his discipleship by acting justly.  Some ways of showing justice include:  service, working towards peace and justice issues, prayer about world situations, peaceful protest, writing letters to government officials, and building relationships with others who are less fortunate.  So one of the ways to recognize a disciple is that a disciple should be working towards justice in our world.  We should be working to make our world a better and more just place for all people.  Martin Luther King Jr. said Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.  Disciples of Jesus need to be on the forefront of justice issues in the world, standing up for the needs of the poor and the oppressed, and working to right wrongs on all levels (personally, relational, corporate, governmental, etc..)

2.                  Love Mercy: Mercy is defined as compassion or forbearance shown especially to an offender or to one subject to one’s power, a blessing that is an act of divine favor or compassion, or compassionate treatment of those in distress.  As Christ followers we have been shown mercy- in that Christ has taken the penalty for our sake.  In other words we don’t get what we rightly deserve.  And as we have been shown mercy by God we in turn should show mercy to others.  We realize that it is not anything we have done or will do.  Titus 3:4-6 says this about our lives and God’s mercy, “But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior” As we grow deeper in our faith journey, one of the fruits that we should display more of is mercy.  We should love mercy, because without it we would be lost.  We should love to show others mercy, because we realize that we are no better off than anyone else.  Someone once said that the ground at the foot of the cross is level.  I believe this trait of discipleship is severely lacking in our world today.  We need more Christ followers to show mercy, to not judge others, and to be filled with compassion, grace, and love for all people.  When we see ourselves how we truly are (loved by God but sinners saved only by the grace of God) that we are able to show others mercy.

3.                  To Walk Humbly with our God: I believe this is the inward nature of our discipleship.  To Act Justly is outward focused.  To Love Mercy is both outward and inward focused.  To walk humbly with our God is inward focused.  This is the area of discipleship that we talk about the spiritual disciplines such as prayer, solitude, bible reading and study, silence, and fasting.  This is where we live out the meaning of John 15, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”  To remain in God is to daily work on our relationship with Him.  Just as we need to work on our relationships here on earth by listening, communicating, and spending time, we are to do these things with God.  To walk with God implies a journey not a final destination that we can reach now.  Our faith is a journey with a companion.  This walk with God is reminiscent of that final walk that Jesus took to his death.  In Luke 9:23 we read, “Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”  This verse, I would say, also does a great job of summing up what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.  To deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Him.  To deny the flesh (the attitudes, actions, desires of this world), to take up your cross (that actions, attitudes, desires of the Kingdom of God including suffering), and follow Him (make him Lord of your life).  The Kingdom of God is about walking humbly with God, denying yourself, and following after Christ while the Kingdom of this world is about walking arrogantly with yourself, making your own decisions, and looking out for number one.  Being a disciple of Jesus, and a member of the Kingdom of God is so opposite of our natural tendencies.  It goes against everything our flesh and our world tell us.  That is our job as disciples to follow after God even though everything else tells us the exact opposite.  A disciple of Jesus followers after God by being constant in prayer, diligent in study, fasting, listening, and being in communion with God and with other disciples.

When we get down to the matter of discipleship we must realize that what the Lord requires us is not an easy road.  Look where it got our master Jesus.  To act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God is so much the opposite of the kingdom of the world.  Discipleship requires work, patience, and determination.  To be a “Christian” is easy, just say you believe in God.  To be a Christ follower is difficult.  G.K. Chesterton said it best, “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried.”  But the best things are those things which aren’t easy and free.  The best things are the things that we work for and give our lives to.  Discipleship and following Jesus is the best thing and it is worth everything that we have.  After all Jesus gave us everything that he had (his blood, sweat, tears, and life). We should return the favor.

Would love to hear your thoughts on this.....

Finding God in Culture- Desperate Housewives

Monday, September 13, 2010 at 10:40AM

Yesterday at Veritas we began a 3 week series called "Finding God in Culture".  We took a look at the TV Show Desperate Housewives and how it connected to the value of being a safe place for a spiritual search.  Below is my message from Sunday and the discussion questions that followed. (We'll be posting the audio from the sermon soon.)

Today we begin a 3 week series entitled “Finding God in Culture.”  Throughout our 3 weeks we will be taking a look at media (TV, Movies, and Music) and seeking to find God’s fingerprint in them.  We’ll also seek to find out what we can learn about being a disciple of Jesus through these various mediums.  We’ll also talk about how we can be formed spiritually through our encounter with pop culture.

But before we truly dive into our 1^st encounter with finding God in culture, we need to do a little background work on understanding the pop culture and media that is all around us and how it works in our world.

When we look at the culture around us, especially pop culture and media, we need to see these things as both a map and a mirror.  Think about what these two things do for us.  They allow us to see where we are going and where we currently are, as well as reflect our current “condition”.  Or as Walt Mueller, president of Center for Parent and Youth Understanding in E-Town says, “Youth culture is a map and a mirror. It is both directive and reflective. We watch it to see where it's sending us and our kids. We watch it to see where we are. We monitor, deconstruct, and exegete it to know how to bring the map of the Biblical world and life view to bear on the realities that exist.”  This is the very reason that we are looking at pop culture in our 3 week series, to understand where our culture is heading and where it currently is, and also how it reflects where people in our world are, and where they are heading.

In today’s clips taken from Desperate Housewives we see the main character going to church and desperately seeking answers to her questions about life, faith, and God.  If we look at these clips as a map and a mirror, we realize that there are many people who are seeking answers to these very spiritual and existential questions regarding life, faith, spirituality, God, and the kingdom.  I believe that as a map, this points to that fact that the more we go along in our world, the more questions and wrestling will be happening in our world.  I also believe that all too often the last place people are and will look towards to help them wrestle with these huge issues is and will be the church.  Why is that?  Why are Oprah, Eckhart Tolle, Deepak Chopra, and the Deli Lama on the forefront of people’s minds when it comes to the spiritual questions and issues of our day and the church is the last option or no option at all?  I have some inkling that I know why.

The other week I had received a copy of a book called “Colors of God” in the mail from the Ooze Viral Bloggers.  I read the book and then write a blog about it.  There was a part of the book that I believe opens up, to me, the reason people look elsewhere when it comes to spiritual questions.  The authors tells the story of a woman who was having some very real questions and doubts about faith, but didn’t feel like she would share it with anyone at all.  Here is a quote from the book, “I sat there thinking, Are you kidding me?  She had some very reasonable questions about God and faith in the midst of a real tragedy and had to keep it completely to herself, feeling like a Judas.”  The author continues, “She said that she started to ask a few questions about this or that at her woman’s prayer group, and they all began to lay hands on her and pray for her and give her verses- this confirmed to her that she could not be safe: ‘The church is not a safe place for the questions I have.’”

And so that is what it comes down to.  People believe that the church is not a safe place for a spiritual search.  But how have we gotten here?  Let’s look at a story in which Jesus was asking questions and it was encouraged and helpful, not discouraged and not helpful.  The story is found in Luke 2:41-51 and is the only story told in the 4 Gospels of Jesus life as a child (except for the birth narratives).

“Every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover. When he was twelve years old, they went up to the Feast, according to the custom. After the Feast was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, "Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you." "Why were you searching for me?" he asked. "Didn't you know I had to be in my Father's house?" But they did not understand what he was saying to them. Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart.  And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.”

Let’s look at this text and see how it applies to our encounter with Desperate Housewives.

So here we see Jesus coming of age and going to the Passover feast.  When the feast was over and everyone headed back home, Jesus stayed behind but no one knew it.  After traveling for a day, they began to realize that he wasn’t with them, so they turned around and headed back to Jerusalem to find him.  They probably looked everywhere they could think of, finally coming to the temple and seeing him sitting among the teachers of the law in the temple courts.  It’s what he was doing in the temple courts that I want to focus a bit of time on.  The Scriptures put it this way, “sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.”  He was curious about the faith and wanted to ask the learned men questions about it, even though he was the answer to the men’s questions.  This picture of Jesus found in this story is the picture of a precocious learner and not that of a teacher of the religious leaders.  Jesus was proposing questions to them all the while respecting the law and the prophets.  There is no reason to suppose that this was for the purpose of perplexing or confounding the religious leaders.  The questions were doubtlessly proposed in a respectful manner and the answers listened to with proper deference to their position within the religious community.  In other words, Jesus didn’t set them up so that he could show off his wisdom and answers.  I believe there was a true curiosity and hunger to learn that Jesus had, even though he was God in the flesh.

The other interesting thing about this situation is that this question, answer, discussion format was the way that the Rabbis of Jesus day taught.  It was normal for people (maybe not 12 year olds all the time), especially religious leaders, to sit around, ask questions, and dialogue around texts of the Old Testament, especially the 1^st 5 books called The Torah.  Sometimes this process was called Midrash, when they sat around and debated and tried to get at the meaning of a text.  They would bring up opposing viewpoints for the sake of discussion.  And so probably what was taking place that day when Mary and Joseph found Jesus in the temple was that he was participating in a midrash around the Jewish faith, traditions, and beliefs.

Something else stands out in this text which I believe is connected to what took place in the temple is the statement found in verse 52, “And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.”  I believe that Jesus grew in wisdom and stature because of the questions, answers, and dialogue that took place on that day in the temple.  I believe that there were intrinsically linked together.  To gain learning, wisdom, and understanding in all of life, not just in our faith journey, requires us to ask a lot of questions.  Or put another way by the German Jewish inventor Charles Steinmetz "No man really becomes a fool until he stops asking questions."

One of the core values of what we are about as Veritas is that we are the kind of community that creates a safe place for a spiritual search.  The kind of community that is open to questions, doubts, and struggles.  That we can be open to each other about the things that we are wrestling with and that no question should be off limits.  The kind of community that Lynette in Desperate Housewives needs.  The kind of community, which I believe, many people, who are represented by Lynette, need and desire.  The kind of community which I need and desire and I believe you need and desire.  A safe place for a spiritual search.

So let’s continue our discussion together around Finding God in Culture, the clips we have just watched and will watch from Desperate Housewives, the questions we have in our lives, and how we can be a people and a community that is a safe place for a spiritual search.

3 Discussion Questions:

1.  What are your thoughts, comments, insights, reflections, etc... concerning the 3 clips that we played from Desperate Housewives?

2.  What questions regarding God, spirituality, and faith do you hear from those around you?  What questions do you have regarding these things?

3.  How can you and I be "safe" towards those with questions?  How can Veritas continue to live out our call to be a safe place for a spiritual search?

Next week we'll look at the movie Avatar.

Colors of God

The other week I received the book "Colors of God:  Conversations on Being the Church" by Randall Peters, Dave Phillips, and Quentin Steen as part of the Ooze Viral Bloggers, in which I read the book and then blog about it.  All three authors are a part of neXus, an emerging church in Canada.  A tag line on the back of the book got my attention, "OK, so the church is broken, now what?"  With my interest piqued from the subtitle and that tag line, I started reading.  I want to share the 4 parts of the book, the parts that I truly resonated with, and the parts that I have serious issues with.

The book is divided into 4 parts or colors, hence the idea of Colors of God. The 4 colors are the core values of neXus (the capital X I guess is a nod to the idea of Generation X.)  The colors are Blue for Gospel Faith, Green for Healthy Living, Red for Inclusive Community, and Yellow for Cultural Engagement.  Not sure why they chose the colors they did (except the Green color which makes sense).

My main part of the book that I truly resonated with and resonated strongly with was their piece of cultural engagement.  When the one author listed The Village as a movie that spiritually impacted him, I was right with him, and had some of the same thoughts about the movie and it's commentary on the modern church.  Quentin says, "We have to return to the way the church once was- the artist spoke the language of God in the common language of the people."  Hence the use of Stain Glass and the Jesus narratives on them.  I guess the best part of that section was the relization that much of the evanglical church has bought into a type of Gnosticism and lives by the idea that there is a sacred world which is good, and a secular world which is bad.  One quote from that section puts it this way, "This misses the whole thrust of incarnational theology; that God in Christ, came down from heaven and lives within the entire material world."

Another section that connected with me, and with Veritas' Core Value of A Safe Spritual Search was in the discussion of Inclusive Community.  The whole discussion about being authentic and starting with the Pastor was a great bit, and a good reminder that if I want authenticity in our community that I need to go first.  One quote from that section says, "They feel safe.  I don't hear that word used in teh same sentence as church- very odd.  And safe means that I can be myself."  Another part from the Green section dealt with a woman who began asking some tough questions and dealt with how her church community dealt with her questions.  "She said that she started to ask a few questions about this or that at her woman's prayer group, and they all began to lay hands on her and pray for her and give her verses- this confirmed to her that she could not be safe: 'The Church is not a safe place for the questions I have."

The one thing that I believe started out as a good intention and I first thought it was great was the different approach to writing.  Instead of one voice writing, it was a discussion between 3 people, and it almost felt like we were easdropping on their conversation. At first I liked it, but then the further I went into the discussion, it really felt contrived, especially in the q and a part where "people" asked questions and they responded.  I didn't see any disagreements played out between the three and the Q and A seemed like someone spouting out "traditional 'evangelical' straw man questions' that got put up and then knocked down even quicker.

There are some issues that I have with this book.  One of which is the idea that we don't have to, they say "manage" our relationship with God.  Which almost seems like to me just live your life and you and God are good.  I know that I can do nothing to earn God's love.  He gives it to me freely.  But because of that I want to love, serve, and know him better.

Another part was their exegesis around the idea of confession.  They say, "there is nothing more damaging to the gospel, my faith, and to my position in Christ than this daily confession of sin.."  They say that it leads to this concern that "What happens if I don't confess every sin.  Then am I damned?"  But I believe their exegeisis on 1 John 1:9 is weak, and Jesus wants us to confess the sins in our lives on a regular basis, because it hampers our relationship with Him.  Not that he stops loving us at all.  But wants the best for us.

I could go on and share some other thoughts regarding this book (God is never disappointed in us, their take on the idea regarding who goes to heaven, etc..) but this post is long enough.  If I were to give this book a score of 1 to 10 (1 being horrible and 10 being amazing) I would give it about a 5.  Good but not great.

Blessed are the Peacemakers

It’s hard to believe but summer is almost over.  In just 2 short weeks kids will be going back to school, some of our college friends will be back with us, and we’ll be talking fall events, football, and our one year birthday party.  Being that it is almost the end of summer, it is almost the end of our summer long series entitled “Vintage Christianity”, looking at the 8 Beatitudes found in the 1^st book of the New Testament, Matthew Chapter 5:1-10.

We have covered the first 6 during the summer and today we are covering the 7^th, and next week we’ll be wrapping up the series with the 8^th beatitude and then making a transition to another series called “Finding God in Culture” starting on September 12 looking at movies, TV, and music and connections to our 3 Core Values.

Today we are taking a look at Matthew 5:9 which says, “Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called sons of God.”  Or in another translation “Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called children of God.”  So today we are going to talk about what peace means, what it looks like to be a peacemaker, and how this beatitude is a radical, upside down kingdom of God value just like the other 7 beatitudes.

Let’s look at the word peace.  It shows up all over the place in our world, but do we truly know what it means?  We hear it when the politicians decry the war in Afghanistan and Iraq, we hear people talk about peace on earth, and of course all the contestants in the Miss USA pageant say they want world peace.  But I don’t believe we quite have a true understanding of peace and how to obtain it, in our own lives and in the world around us.  The word peace is found all throughout the Scriptures, both in the Old Testament and the New Testament.  The word peace is translated Shalom in over 250 occurrences and means “the absence of agitation and discord; rest, harmony, and wholeness.  It includes as well the ideas of good health and prosperity as well as having both a temporal part to it and an eternal part.  But shalom isn’t the only word translated as peace in Scripture.  The other word is the Greek word eirene and refers to inner calm, a sense of perfect well being, but expands to include harmonious relations between God and people, people and people, nations and families.  It is the word used to designate the role of emperors and ambassadors sent out to facilitate peace where there is conflict.  We get the sense, both in the O.T. and the N.T. that this word peace means more than just absence of strife.  It is personal and social well being in the widest sense of the world and is very holistic in that it deals with everything.  All of our relationships, situations, the creation itself, and God.  It is about more than just pacifism, and being against war (which by the way we are still pacifist and believe that war is wrong).  So the central meaning behind peace is the idea of reconciliation.  Reconciliation between God and us.  Reconciliation between people.  Reconciliation between nations and countries.  As disciples of Jesus, we should be all about the work of reconciliation and we should bring into all our relationships a quality which makes for harmony and blessing.

But before we become peacemakers in our world we have to realize something.  We need to realize that ultimately all the talk of peace in the world is utterly futile without Jesus.  Ultimately, all peacemaking begins and ends with Jesus Christ whose very purpose was to reconcile God and humanity.  But shalom is not merely the absence of war and conflict; it is the presence and the promise of truth with a Capital T.  So let me ask this, before we get to talking about peace in the world, and the conflicts that exist around the world, and in the relationships that are all around us, what about you?  Are you at peace with God?  I don’t believe you can truly be a peacemaker in the wider world, working for reconciliation in all facets of life, until you are at peace, and reconciled to the author, sustainer, and the prince of peace, Jesus himself.

So if peace is personal and social, internal and external, and all about reconciliation, and is done from a person who has been and continues to be reconciled to God through Jesus,  then what is the work of a peacemaker?  Just like there are many facets to the word peace, there are many different facets to being a peacemaker.  The work of peace has to do with sharing with others about the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus and how you have been reconciled and brought to peace through Jesus.  The work of peace means we work at breaking down walls that exist between individuals, groups of people, and yes even countries.  The work of making peace also means that it is about the task of reconciliation between groups, people at odds, and making people aware that God is reconciling himself to us.  It is about those who seek peace by loving their enemies by doing what God himself does, and by definition are children of God, in that when they work for peace they look like God.  It’s about disciples of Jesus being about the ministry of reconciliation found in 2 Corinthians 5:17-20 which says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!  All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God.”  So peacemaking is about evangelism and sharing about the reconciliation that is possible through Jesus.

To be a peacemaker also means that we are the bringers of peace to a wounded world, to invite others into the presence of the Lord, to open the circle and extend a hand of invitation into the community and to become a peacemaker themselves.  So being a peacemaker is also about things like working against racism, working against injustice in all areas of life, and being on the forefront of justice issues in the wider world.

One of those justice issues that we definitely need to address more from the church’s standpoint is the area of war.  My question to each of us is how did we get to this place where so many in the church don’t question our countries involvement in war.  Now we all may have different opinions when it comes to war, but let’s talk a little bit about peace, the just war theory, and being a peacemaker.

Somehow this idea of being a pacifist in the church has become almost a rare thing, but in the early church most if not all followers of Jesus were peacemakers in a very real way.  In fact here is a quote from an early Church father Tatian, “

“I do not wish to be a ruler.  I do not strive for wealth.  I refuse offices of military command.  I despise death.”  The early Church Fathers believed that following God was antithetical to working for the empire and fighting their battles.  They believed in working for and “fighting” for peace.  And so for us sitting here today 2,000 years later in a world that hasn’t become more peaceful, and the heroes in the news and movies are not the peacemakers, the church needs to be more active in the role of living this beatitude out more fully, not just in standing up against the violence, death, and destruction of countries, people, and infrastructure from war, but from the violence, death, and destruction that happens when people aren’t reconciled to God, to each other, and to the whole of creation.

I want to close with an illustration that shows just how far from God’s ideal of peacemaking we have come.  In the beatitude that we looked at to be a peacemaker means all the things we talked about (reconciliation, standing up against violence, hatred, evangelism, mission, social justice, love, and peace).  But in the early west a peacemaker was a type of pistol.  When you watch the early western’s you see most people having a colt peacemaker.  In 68 years Colt made over 357,000 peacemakers.  What does this say when a weapon of death, destruction, and violence is called a peacemaker?  Apparently in our world the only way to make peace is through violence.  This idea of the myth of redemptive violence.  Jesus is the true peacemaker and brings peace not by bringing violence on others, but by having violence done to him.

So as we transition into our discussion time, I want to say that this idea of peacemaking can be an area of contention and I want to reiterate that when we share and when we agree and when we disagree we need to do it from a place of respect and love for each other.  Together we’ll talk about the word peace, what it looks like for you and me to be peacemakers, and also talk about pacifism and working for peace in the wider world.



Here are the questions that we discussed during our time of discussion....

1. What thoughts, comments, ideas, disagreements, etc…. do you have regarding today’s beatitude?
2. How did the discussion about the word “peace” challenge you, change your understanding, confirm your thoughts, etc….?
3. What are your thoughts, feelings, beliefs, etc.. about pacifism?  What are your beliefs, thoughts, ideas, etc.. about Christ Followers participating in war?
4. What does it mean and what does it look like for you and I, and Veritas to be about the work of peace?

So what are your thoughts, comments, etc... about being a peacemaker in our world.  A world that often says, "Blessed are the violent."  Send me a message on this website or make a comment on the blog.

Veritas at Purple Door

Well this past weekend five of us from Veritas attended Purple Door and had a booth to promote Veritas and to give away literature and our new CD. We talked with a lot of different people, gave around 80 or so CD's away, and hung out with each other. Whether or not people will come and check us out on a Sunday is yet to be seen. But it was still a good time to be there, listen to some good music, and get the word out about Veritas. One of the coolest things that took place during our time at Purple Door was that our Worship Leader and our drummer were given the chance to play for 15 minutes on the Gallery Stage. The video below shows Matt and Shawn playing "Pop Train Wreck" which is a hilarious work that Matt put together. So take a look at it and see for yourself why it's so funny.

Arts in the Veritas Community

I have blogged alot about the arts and artistic expression within the Veritas community. I continue to do some thinking on helping to develop the arts within our community, allow our artists freedom to explore their giftings in the community, and develop ways of having various arts represented throughout our church. I have been thinking about this due to our CD "Veritas: Music and Art from our community Volume 2" coming in the mail yesterday. I am continually blown away by the creativity of those within our community. The CD is amazing, the art is awesome, and the poetry is open, sincere, authentic, and beautiful. I have also found the following video done by an amazing artist and person within our community (who developed the front and back of the CD as well). I saw it on Facebook and asked her if I could post it on the blog and she gave me permission so I decided to put it on here for others to see. It's an awesome piece and I believe you will be touched as I was when I saw it. (We have some future plans for continued embracing of the arts within Veritas such as the Veritas "school" of the arts, and using various artistic expression within the worship gatherings on sunday morning)

Here is the video called "Metamorphisis":

Die Religion Die

Last night, while on a run (i want to try to run at least 3 times a week....though I don't like it I realize that I need some sort of exercise in my life), I was listening to my iPod. A friend had given me a bunch of music and I decided to listen to an album by the former guitarist of Korn, Brian "Head" Welch. As I was running and listening the song Die Religion Die came on, and I almost stopped running just to focus on the words. They resonated with me, especially the part about the church and what it truly exists for. I believe the point of this song is that religion can and way too often gets in the way of relationship with God. We make it about rules and regulations when Jesus said, "The truth shall set you free." (not bind you up with other rules and regulations). Our lives should be about relationship, love and grace and not religion (though religion as defined this way..." A religion is a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, especially when considered as the creation of a supernatural agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs."....isn't in itself truly bad. Just when we begin to make up the "moral code" and add to what Jesus was all about "The Kingdom of God." So here are the lyrics to the song:

I'm sick of all your rules

They're so man made

You treat them all like fools

You put my name to shame

I'm everything you're not

I give them love

My ways you have forgot

You put yourselves above

I'll testify

It's time to see Religion die

The truth can't lie

It's time to see Religion die

Who cares?

Who's right?

It's time to see Religion die

I'll crush the fight

It's time to see Religion die

My Church is not inside

You're building walls

On Sundays you all hide

While the world just falls

Now go into the world

And destroy hell

You have authority

Use it for the kill

Children come

Away with me

I want you all

To be mine

I am

Taking back what's mine, and

You've killed too much time with

Pointing all your fingers at your kids that's why they're lost

Try to look deep in their eyes

You will see suicide

Blame it on yourself cuz no one else will pay your price

Your price

Die just

Die Religion

Do not be afraid

Religion is man made

Everything is OK

The rules have just been changed

Here is a video of the song:

Veritas: Music and Art from our Community Volume 2

The above art is from the new CD "Veritas: Music and Art from our Community Volume 2 which will be going to Discmakers.com hopefully tomorrow and will be released at the Purple Door Arts and Music Festival in two weeks. We are super excited about this CD and how we can use it to promote Veritas but also the arts within our community and in the wider community. There is also a poem that one of our people wrote that I want to share below:

Whispered words on bended knee, Promises that you’ll be free, Become the one you’re meant to be,

If you will only come to me Shattered thoughts from long ago, TRUST Tortured heart that no one knows,

Trust in me,and I will show, Which path to take, which way to go.

Life takes shape before your eyes, Let me dry the tears you’ve cried, Open up and be my bride, Leave behind your foolish pride.

Some of the things that we will be doing with the CD include giving it away at Purple Door with information about Veritas, throwing a CD release party (probably in September), putting it on some fair trade music sites like Noisetrade.com, having available for people who want to support Veritas for a donation (if they so choose), giving it to visitors who come to Veritas along with our information pack, and probably some ways we haven't thought of. (Maybe we could even get some air play on the radio...our Worship Leader's father-in-law is a radio DJ, musician, etc... in the Lancaster area...by the name of Phredd..so maybe we can get it played on WJTL. If you want a copy to have, or to pass on to someone who is looking for a faith community, let me know. Again I'm pumped about this CD and the talent that we have in our community...it blows me away...

Pure in Heart

Today we looked at the 6th Beatitude "Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God" at our worship gathering.   Below is the text of the message and the 4 discussion questions.  Feel free to comment, share, disagree, etc.... "So we are getting close to ending our time looking at Vintage Christianity through the lens of the Beatitudes found in the 1^st book in the New Testament (which is about 2/3 of the way through the Bible) which is Matthew 5:1-10.  We have covered 5 of the eight beatitudes the last few weeks.  We have covered the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, and last week we talked about the merciful.  The final two deal with peacemakers and the persecuted.  But today we are discussing the sixth beatitude found in Matthew 5:8.

The sixth beatitude is “Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God.”  Now I don’t know about you, but this beatitude has given me pause more than any other one.  I think the reason being that when I look at my life, this is the one that I probably struggle with the most.  I definitely don’t think of myself as pure in heart.  So maybe this one is just one that is for another time and another place….oh if it were only that simple.  The first thing we need to realize about this idea of being pure in heart doesn’t mean and need not be thought of as morally perfect…which none of us are anyway.  This should lighten our load a little bit, but still should make us realize that all of us, no matter where we are on our spiritual journey, have a ways to go in regards to being pure in heart.

So if the idea of being pure in heart doesn’t mean morally perfect, what exactly does it mean?  And what does it mean that the pure in heart will see God?  Where and when will they see God?  Let’s spend some time talking about the words pure in heart, and the idea of seeing God.

If we were to look at these words in the Ancient Greek language (which the New Testament was written in) the phrase pure in heart has the idea of straightness, honesty, and clarity.  Or another way to put it would be the idea of single-heartedness in motivation, in thought, and in focus.  Or as Jesus put it to Satan in Matthew 4, “Worship the Lord your God, and only him. Serve him with absolute single-heartedness."  To be pure in heart means going after God with all that you are, all that you have, and with your entire self.  Nothing is held back.  Your life is given as an offering to him.  Your talents, abilities, and gifts that you have been given are given back to him to use at his discretion and for the building of the kingdom.  Your finances are given back to God so that he can use them for the work of the kingdom.  You are focused on loving God with all your heart, your soul, your mind, and your strength and you put that into action by loving your neighbor as yourself.  Or as Søren Kierkegaard once said, “Purity of heart is to will one thing.”

Another way of looking at this idea of being pure in heart, I believe connects very well with what we at Veritas are all about, and in fact, is part of the reason that we even chose the name Veritas for the church.  It also means having pure thoughts and genuine motives.  You are authentically who you are, and what you say and how you live your life are in agreement.  A person who has a pure heart is sincere and genuine.  Veritas, for those of you who don’t know, means truth, real, authentic, and genuine…all of which tie into being pure in heart.  When you are pure in heart you are full of truth in all the areas of your life (your speech, your attitudes, your values, your beliefs, etc..).  When you are pure in heart you are real, authentic and genuine.

Now the other word in this statement that we need to look at is the word heart.  It doesn’t mean the muscle that beats between 60-80 beats per minute.  In the Hebrew understanding of heart, it means the entire body, the mind, the personality, the will, as well as the emotions.  It is the seat of decision making.  It is the seat of thinking.  In our understanding it would be like putting together the heart and the mind.  So that we are called to be pure in our emotions, our attitudes, our loves, and also in our thinking, our views, and our beliefs.  Jesus, in this beatitude is contrasting the inward life versus the outer life.  In Jesus’ day there was a group of individuals called The Pharisee’s who were often in opposition to Jesus.  They lived “outwardly” religious lives.  Jesus often said that while their outsides looked great, their insides were far from him.  What he was getting at is that the Pharisee’s followed God’s law in external appearances, but their hearts were not pure.  They were following God for all the wrong reasons.  In this beatitude Jesus is saying that to be pure and to see God means that your insides need to follow after God first.  That your heart beats for God and then your externals will follow based on your love for God, and not on getting showed love and respect from people.  So the Pharisee’s were all about the outer appearances, but the Kingdom of God is about inward purification of heart, and then a changed life reflected by what you do in the world.

So those who are single-hearted in their following of Jesus, that have a heart that beats with the heart of Jesus, and those who Jesus’ calls pure in heart, will see God.  So my question revolves around the questions any good reporter would ask.  The questions of when will the pure in heart see God, where will they see God and how they will see God.  Before we get to that, I found a quote from the Ancient Church Father Origen that we need to hear before moving onto seeing God.  Origen writes, “God has no body, and therefore is invisible: but men of contemplation can discernhim with the heart and understanding. But A DEFILED HEART CANNOT SEE GOD: BUT HE MUST BE PURE WHO WISHES TO ENJOY A PROPER VIEW OF A PURE BEING.  Origen talks about how the pure in heart will see God, through their heart, understanding, and through contemplation.  Origen, also makes it clear that those who don’t have a pure heart won’t see God.  Their lives, thoughts, emotions, attitudes, beliefs, etc.. are too wrapped up in other things to truly see God.  So then the how of seeing God means slowing down and listening and looking for God, repenting of sin and other things that cloud your “view”, and then having an eye open throughout your life to the possibility of seeing God.

Now many years ago when I read these words for the first time I remember thinking that the answer to the question of “when will the pure in heart see God” was only limited to when I die and go to heaven.  Now that certainly is true.  We will literally see God the moment that we take our last breath here on earth, and our first breath in heaven.  But just as the gospel isn’t just about heaven after you die, seeing God isn’t just about after you die as well.  Jesus likely meant that the pure in heart see God in the world around them when others are blind.  That the pure in heart are aware of the movements of the Divine in their lives and all throughout the entire creation.

I believe an almost better answer to the question of when and where the pure in heart will see God, is when and where won’t the pure in heart see God?  I believe if given the right spiritual eyes, the spiritual eyes that the pure in heart have, we will see God all the time and everywhere we look.  It will almost be unavoidable.  We will see God in the midst of the creation that is all around us.  If we are pure in heart, we’ll see God while we are on a walk around the neighborhood, or on a drive through the countryside, or during a visit to a city, or a bike ride/hike in the mountains, or at the end of day sitting on your porch watching the sun set.  We’ll “see” God when we turn on the TV, when we watch a movie, when we plug in our iPod, or when we turn on the radio.  We’ll literally see God everywhere we look and everywhere we go.  His hand is all over his creation.  And the pure in heart will see his hand.  And when we see God, we shall enjoy greater intimacy with God than we previously could have even imagined.

So let’s spend some time talking about being pure in heart, what that looks like for us as individuals and as a community, and what it means to see God in the world around us.  To the discussion time we now turn. "

The four discussion questions that are community wrestled with were:

1. What thoughts, comments, ideas, disagreements, etc… do you have concerning this beatitude?
2. In what ways do you seek after being pure in heart?  Or in other words how do you develop a pure heart?
3. Share a time when you have an experience when you “saw” God in the world.
4. How can you and I live out this beatitude in our world today both as individuals and as a community?

Thank You from COBYS

The other week during our Servolution Week we spent the time painting an apartment in downtown Lancaster.  I received a thank you note that I wanted to post on-line for everyone from Veritas to read.

Dear Ryan and Friends at Veritas:

I am writing to thank you for your hard work painting at the COBYS King Street apartment.  I recognize that time is valuable, which makes me even more grateful for your help.

I was sorry I wasn't able to be around to work with you and personally thank you for your efforts- we usually like to at least provide some drinks and donuts for our volunteers- but I was glad you were able to work independently while I was gone.

The new kitchen is being finished today and we have a tenant who is excited to begin moving in this weekend.  The apartment will generate income for our ministries for the foreseeable future, so you donation of time will continue to bear fruit for months and years to come.

Thanks again,

Don Fitzkee

I wanted to also thank those who helped during our Servolution Week.  It as truly appreciated.

Blessed are the merciful for they will be shown mercy.

Here is the message and discussion questions from the July 18 message dealing with mercy. This week in our series entitled “Vintage Christianity” looking at the 8 Beatitudes found in Matthew 5:1-10, we are covering the 5th Beatitude. This 5th Beatitude is found in Matthew 5:7 and like all the rest, is a kingdom of God value that lies directly contrary to the values of this world and the kingdom of man. Of all the imperatives given to followers of Jesus, none appears to be more important than this beatitude. The call of this beatitude occurs times and time again, not only in Matthew 5:7 but all throughout the Old and New Testament.

In Matthew 5:7 we read these words of Jesus, “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.” This, in my opinion, is one of the most important beatitudes that Jesus spoke, for nowhere do we imitate God more than in showing mercy, as God is defined by his mercy. This morning we are going to define mercy and what the connection is between God having mercy on us, and the mercy that we show on others. We’ll also look at just how countercultural this beatitude is, not only in Jesus time but also in our very own time.

Now the word mercy, among the Jews, those who would have heard Jesus speaks these words, they would have thought of two things: the pardon of injuries and the practice of giving money to handicap people (the blind, the lame, the needy) which is called almsgiving. Jesus however used mercy in the sense of having pain of heart. That something so grabs and tugs at your heart, that you have no choice but to get involved by showing love, forgiveness, grace, and compassion. A merciful man enters into the miseries of his or her neighbor, and feels for them.

But the first place we need to go before we get to our part in being merciful is to Jesus. How do Jesus and God define and live out mercy for us to follow? Each of us needs to realize that we are shown mercy each and every day. Every day of our lives, each hour, and each moment, we partake of his undeserved mercy. All the blessings we enjoy are proofs of his mercy. He doesn’t ask us to show others mercy, without him showing us mercy first. In fact out of the four different ways that are translated mercy in the Scriptures, two of them are used most often in expressing God’s faithfulness, tenderness, and kindness towards us. The other two, by definition, are about the mercy that we are invited to show our fellow humans. There are so many Scriptures that mention God’s mercy towards us. Here are a few that bear this out. Psalm 25:6, “Remember, O LORD, your great mercy and love, for they are from of old.” Romans 9:14-16, “What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! For he says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy.” And one more from Ephesians 2:4-5, “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.”

There are also many times within Scripture that we see the connection between how we react to others with how God reacts to us, especially in the areas of forgiveness and mercy. In this Scripture, it is clear that when we are merciful to others, God will in turn be merciful to us. If we want mercy from others, especially God, then we should take care to be merciful to others. Someone once said, “He who shows mercy to man, God will show mercy to him; but to him who shows no mercy to man, God will show no mercy.” If our goal, our dreams, as followers of Jesus, is to look like Jesus, which it should be, than we are to also show mercy to the poor, the wretched, the guilty. When we show mercy it shows that we are like God, that we have his spirit, and we shall not lose our reward. Those who are merciful are the ones who care and reach out to help those that are in need, without demanding that they deserve such help. God does not distinguish between those who deserve his mercy and forgiveness and those who don’t. All too often however, we do distinguish between those who deserve our mercy and forgiveness and those who don’t. The innocent and lovable….no problem. Our enemies, those who hurt others…more of a problem. I’m not saying that showing mercy to others is easy. In fact, all the beatitudes are difficult to live out, as is following Jesus period. But because Jesus shows us mercy in so many large and small ways each and every day, than if we really want to be like him, act like him, and live like him, than we are called to live out a life of mercy to all.

There is a well known story of Corrie Ten Boom, a prisoner in a German concentration camp, that spells out the meaning of mercy and forgiveness on an enemy or someone that is difficult to show mercy to. After her release, she was traveling through Germany, witnessing to her faith. On a particular night she found herself in Hamburg, giving her personal testimony. She talked about the horrors of concentration camps, the mistreatment, the torture, and the humiliation that she and many others experienced. She talked about her own struggle to forgive those who had humiliated her. At the end of her address, she was standing in front of the little congregation when through that crowd of people she saw a face that caused her to freeze in mid-sentence. It was a face from her past. Much to her horror and dismay he began to walk toward her and flashbacks from the past began to cloud her mind. He was a prison guard at one of the concentration camps. He was more than just a prison guard -- he was the guard over the women's shower. Once a week all of the women in the prison were stripped and paraded through the shower like cattle. He was one of the ones who watched and leered as the women paraded before him. As he walked toward her, all of those memories crowded into her mind. She was then faced with a decision as he reached out his hand and said, "Corrie, can you forgive me?" She reached out her hand in an amazing act of not only forgiveness but of mercy.

She had almost every reason to not accept the man’s hand but because she followed Jesus she showed this man great mercy. She gave mercy to him even if he didn’t deserve it, after all isn’t that what mercy is all about? In fact mercy is not getting what we rightfully deserve. The interesting thing though is how often the culture all around us sees the act of giving mercy as a weakness, but if we look at the story of Corrie Ten Boom we realize that it is one of the strongest things to do.

In Jesus’ time mercy was seen very much in the same way as many in our own world see it. The Romans despised pity. The Pharisee’s were harsh in their self-righteousness. And the Stoic philosophers might offer help in time of need, but they looked disapprovingly of compassion. In one of the best “cheesy” 80’s movie, “The Karate Kid” we hear this philosophy about mercy, “We do not train to be merciful here. Mercy is for the weak. Here, in the streets, in competition: A man confronts you, he is the enemy. An enemy deserves no mercy.”

If you show mercy in our own world, people will warn you that you’ll get walked on, taken advantage of, and abused. And sometimes they are right, but that doesn’t mean we should stop offering mercy. Because as our beatitude says we are blessed when we are merciful to others, and because of our mercy to others we will also be shown mercy, from God primarily, but there will be others who will return the favor. And so we see just how countercultural this beatitude is to the values of our world.

And so the world might put the beatitude this way, “Blessed are those who show no mercy, for they will truly be the strong and mighty in the world.” But as we have seen, first of all through Jesus, and then through others who have shown amazing strength through the mercy that they have shared with others, people like Corrie Ten Boom, Martin Luther King Jr., Mother Teresa, that showing mercy takes a strength that far surpasses the world’s understanding of mercy and strength. We have also seen that mercy starts first with God, in showing us mercy each and every day, and each and every moment. And then in turn, God desires that those who follow him, and call themselves by his name, show other mercy. Then in doing so, those who show mercy to others, will be shown mercy, by God and by others.

But what does it look like to live out a life of mercy to those who we think deserve it, and more so, to those who we think don’t deserve it? What does it mean to you that you are the recipient of God’s mercy each and every day in a variety of ways? It’s those questions that we will explore together in our discussion time.

Here are the discussion questions that we wrestled with together after the message.

1. What comments, thoughts, input, insights, questions, disagreements, etc.. do you want to sahre about today's beatitude?
2. How have you experienced the mercy of God in your everyday life?
3. How have you been a vessel of God's mercy to others in the past week or so?
4. How can we as Veritas/as the Church of Jesus Christ, be a vessel of God's mercy to people in our world?

Again, would love to hear your thoughts, comments, etc.. on the message and the discussion. This coming Sunday's beatitude is "Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God."

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness...

Our Leadership Team met the other week for a extended time of prayer, worship, and discussion. We talked alot about various aspects of Veritas. We talked about our values, what was working well, what needed tweaking, etc.. One of the things we talked about was our messages/sermons and discussion times. For the time being we have decided to only record the "Message" part of the morning. We have wondered if waiting for the mic to be passed around is a less organic means of discussion and if that hinders true open discussion. So until we have a place of our own where we can hardwire mics to pic up the conversation, we'll be posting the message and the discussion questions on the blog so to encourage further discussion and conversation. Here is the message and the questions from July 11 revolving around the Beatitude "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled."

"Today we continue our series entitled “Vintage Christianity” looking at The Sermon on the Mount, and more specifically the Beatitudes found in Matthew 5:1-10. Over the last several weeks we have covered the first three Beatitudes. The first week we covered “Blessed are those who are poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom.” We looked at what it means to be poor in spirit and to depend and rely upon Jesus and not on our own “righteousness”.

The second week we looked at the second beatitude which is “Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted.” We talked about what it means to mourn for our own condition before God, the condition of the world, and what it means to be the vessel of comfort for those who are mourning.” The last week that we met in this format we talked about the beatitude, “Blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth.” We talked about the idea that being meek is really about strength under control and what it really means to inherit the land, to be a part of the kingdom of the now and the not yet.

Today we are looking at the fourth beatitude found in Matthew 5:6, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled.” We’ll look at the Beatitude in three parts. First we’ll talk about the metaphor of hunger and thirst. Then we’ll talk together about this word righteousness, and how it is not just about the individual but also the world. Then finally we’ll talk about what it means to be filled.

So the first part that we will look at together is the idea of being hungry and thirsty, not after physical food and drink, but after spiritual food and drink. Now most of us, as Americans, don’t truly know much about physical hunger and thirst. How often do we throw the word starving around, when we have only missed maybe one meal? For most of the years that I was involved in Youth Ministry we would offer the Youth Group a chance to experience a little taste of true hunger, which was called The 30 Hour Famine. This event was probably the closest thing to true hunger that the youth and I have ever experienced. I always remember the last hour before we would break our fast with a communion service and meal. Many years the kids would count down the minutes until they could eat. Many times the communion service was a highlight, because the hunger that they had experienced the previous 30 hours was being symbolically filled with the body and blood of Jesus. I remember wishing that all of us, who had just experienced 30 Hours of fasting, would not only be thankful about the food that we were going to eat, but that we would hunger and thirst after God as much as we desired food.

Another person who understood that hunger and desire for food was the explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton. In the Antarctic summer of 1908-9, Sir Ernest Shackleton and three companions attempted to travel to the South Pole from their winter quarters. They set off with four ponies to help carry the load. Weeks later, their ponies dead, rations all but exhausted, they turned back toward their base, their goal not accomplished. Altogether, they trekked 127 days. On the return journey, as Shackleton records in The Heart of the Antarctic, the time was spent talking about food -- elaborate feasts, gourmet delights, and sumptuous menus. As they staggered along, suffering from dysentery, not knowing whether they would survive, every waking hour was occupied with thoughts of eating. Jesus, who also knew the ravages of food deprivation, said,” Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for RIGHTEOUSNESS." We can understand Shackleton's obsession with food, which offers a glimpse of the passion Jesus intends for our quest for righteousness.

This metaphor of hunger and thirst that Jesus lays down breaks down when it comes to our spiritual food. When we are hungry and thirsty for physical food, we get up and eat and drink. When we have had our fill, we no longer hunger and thirst, for a while anyway. This metaphor however describes a profound hunger that can’t be satisfied completely. It is a strange filling that both satisfies us and keeps us longing for more. Or put another way, the more you eat (spiritually) the hungrier you get. It is a strange paradox of our faith…that when we hunger and thirst after God, his kingdom and his word, he satisfies the deepest longings of our hearts, but at the same time he gives us an increasing hunger and thirst after him, his kingdom and his word.

Now we all hunger and thirst for things that aren’t what Jesus calls righteousness. We sometimes call that our appetite. Our world puts things before us so that we long for them. Our sin nature cries out in hunger for things that are not of God. We hunger after possessions, positions, power, sex, food, and anything we can cram into ourselves that we think will fulfill us and satisfy that yearning deep within for something more. But like the philosopher and mathematician Blaise Pascal said, “There is a God shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God, the Creator, made known through Jesus”

So we are called to hunger and thirst not after things that ultimately won’t fill us and keep us wanting more, but hunger and thirst after something that will fill us and also keep us wanting more. But if we are to hunger and thirst after righteousness, we have to understand exactly what this word righteousness is all about. And that is to where we’ll turn now.

All too often in our Christian world, righteousness is only seen as an individual pursuit, only affects the individual, and is mostly defined by what the individual does not participate it. All too often righteousness is seen as a list of don’ts that I don’t participate in, so that I can know that I am righteous. This definition couldn’t be further from the biblical definition of the word. Biblically righteousness is a matter of relationships, with God, with things, and with other people. The biblical definition of righteousness involves the inherent quality of God. God is right because He is righteous, therefore God can only act righteously. In one instance the word means being right; in another it is used to mean doing right; in still another case it means putting right.

So the biblical idea of righteousness is that it does have a personal part to it, but it also has a corporate part as well. To hunger after righteousness according to Jesus means to have a deep longing for both personal righteousness and justice for the oppressed.

It is important for us as individuals to strive to live a life of righteousness, or right living. Right living means seeing how Jesus lived his life and trying to live like him, to the best of our ability, and through the power of the Holy Spirit. And at the same time to realize that we are righteous, not through anything that we do on our own, but what Jesus has done on our behalf. God is righteousness lived out in the person, work, and ministry of Jesus. And when we place our faith and trust and life in the hands of Jesus, we become like him, righteous.

But at the same time, when we begin to look like Jesus, and become righteous like Jesus, our heart slowly begins to beat in rhythm with Jesus’ heart which leads us to care about the world around us. Righteousness, I believe, could also be translated justice in most cases. Most people assume that righteousness means simple religious rigor, but if it means justice, it integrates personal uprightness with social concern; doing right to my neighbor, enemy, stranger, and so on. If we hunger only for right living for ourselves, if we make the gospel primarily about our own end destination, and if it only becomes about our own spiritual lives and practices, than what we are hungering after is not the righteousness of Jesus, but the righteousness of man which is not righteousness at all. True righteousness should drive us to not only look out for our own spiritual lives but also the very lives of the poor, needy, and oppressed. Righteousness means being the hands and feet of Jesus in the world and working for justice.

The last part of this Beatitude is the statement that after you hunger and thirst after righteousness (and justice) that you will be filled. This goes back again to the metaphor of hunger and thirst. When we live out righteousness and justice in our world, we will be filled. Filled with the power of the Holy Spirit living, moving and breathing inside of us. Pushing us to a deeper walk with Jesus. Pushing us outside our comfort zone to work on justice issues in our neighborhoods, our towns, our state, our country, and our world. And when you hunger and thirst after God, his word, his kingdom, and for justice in the world, you’ll not only be filled with the Holy Spirit, your life will be filled and you will have found out what Jesus means when he said, “I have come that they may have life and have it to the full.” Your life will be full and you will have filled that God shaped vacuum that Blaise Pascal talked about all those years ago.

So now we turn to our time of discussion. What does it look like for you to hunger and thirst after righteousness from a personal and corporate spiritual perspective? What does it look like to hunger and thirst after justice from a personal and corporate perspective? Those are some of the questions that we will wrestle with together."

The discussion questions that we wrestled with together were:

What questions, thoughts, comments, ideas, doubts, struggles, etc.. does this text raise in your mind? What does it look like for you to hunger and thirst after righteousness? What are some other things that you hunger and thirst after instead of righteousness? What do you think of the biblical definition of righteousness? Does it change the way you view righteousness and if so, how? What does it look like for us as a community to hunger and thirst after righteousness (and justice)? How can we live out our hungering and thirsting? Would love to hear your thoughts, comments, etc... on the message and the discussion questions...

More Faithful

I have been on vaction in the Poconos this week. It has been a good time to be away with my extended family. We have ridden bikes, hiked, swam, played with the kids, and ate. While away however I received an e-mail that had the financial report from June from Veritas. In a nutshell, we are in a tight financial situation and we (Veritas and my wife and I) need to make some tough decisions in order for Veritas to continue, including reduction of my salary, increased discussion on tithing and giving, and increased fundraising work. I have been worrying alot about this while on vacation, and during one of my times of thinking and worrying (btw..I wasn't praying about it) while out riding my bike a lyric of a song that I haven't heard in a very very long time popped into my mind. I knew right then and there it was God speaking words of comfort, trust, and hope to me.

The song is a song called "More Faithful" by Skillet. And here are the lyrics to the song:

All the things my feet thought to be firm Are falling with urgency Tearing back my false sense of security

Some say things change, nothing stays the same But the sweetness in my ears Safe in your arms speak the words I love to hear

You have been more faithful than the morning sun You have been more faithful than knowing the night will come You have been more faithful than the changing of seasons

All things I thought that I used to know Are falling down again

Our disillusionment is how we grow Some say things change, nothing stays the same In a world of inconsistency When everything's a lie,

What can cause my heart to believe You have been more faithful than the morning sun You have been more faithful than knowing the night will come You have been more faithful than the changing of seasons

You have been more faithful than the morning sun You have been more faithful than knowing the night will come You have been more faithful than the morning sun You have been more faithful than knowing the night will come You have been more faithful than the changing of seasons

And here is a video of the song:

The Naked Gospel

(This review I wrote and posted on the Ooze Viral Bloggers site. I receive a book every so often, I read it and then I blog about it here and on the Ooze Viral Bloggers website.)

It has taken me a while to get to reviewing “The Naked Gospel” by Andrew Farley. It took me a while to get through it with my work schedule, my wife taking two classes, and honestly other books taking priority over this one.

On the back of the book Farley says, “Jesus plus nothing. 100% natural. No additives. It’s the truth you may never hear in church. The Naked Gospel is a chapter-by-chapter assault on the churchy jargon and double-talk of our day. It puts forth a message that is simple but life changing.”

With those words I was expecting a mind blowing, faith challenging, world shifting book. And unfortunately that is not what I experienced.

Now that isn’t to say that I enjoyed some parts of the book. Farley helped me to realize again that it isn’t what I do for God, but that God loves me unconditionally. That no matter what happens, no matter how many times I sin, no matter how I mess up living the values of the kingdom, Jesus’ love is constant. That is a great reminder that we all need time and time and time again. And that it isn’t by our own wisdom, strength, faith, belief, or service that we obtain salvation, but only by the work of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

My main issue however is a large one. The book is called “The Naked Gospel.” Questions then arise in my mind, What is the Gospel, What did Jesus mean by The Gospel, What do the 4 writers of the “Gospels” mean? All those questions that I have/had, weren’t found in this book. The book relies heavily on the Pauline letters instead of the 4 gospels. I was hoping more for an in depth look on what Jesus said was the gospel, the good news of the kingdom of God. It was sorely missing.

I agree with the thoughts of Scott Ziegler (above) when he says, “I found it somewhat ironic that Farley’s new, Naked Gospel was based not on the gospels, synoptic or otherwise, but on the writings of Paul and the unknown writers of other epistles. In fact, I would guess that, though he would never admit this (wait actually he does), the teachings of Jesus are part of the old covenant and not relevant for Christians today. So ‘Naked’ is actually a completely new gospel. Please turn with me to Naked, Chapter 14, verse 4.

The Sermon on the Mount make you feel guilty? That’s ok Farley tells a parishioner. The Sermon on the Mount may have been Jesus’ greatest moment; its principles may have been his ‘stump speech’ through most of his ministry. BUT, says Farley, it was not for you, you in this case being New Covenant folks. It was written for the religious elite and Jews who were still under the old covenant. No guilt necessary because the Sermon on the Mount contains rule and those rules no longer apply.”

I am not saying that this book wasn’t helpful. But for me, I read Paul through Jesus not Jesus through Paul (though I don’t believe Paul and Jesus stand in opposition). Let’s get back to focusing on what Jesus calls the Gospel, the good news of the kingdom of God both now and in the future.